Zek looked at the "specialist" with a look of mild irritation. He didn't let that stop him from going and answering the door. A warm smile came to his face when he saw Angela standing there. He looked her up and down for a moment, and then beckoned her in to the room.

"Come in, come in." He urged her, stepping back and allowing her to walk in. For a moment, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was so beautiful, even in the very humble clothing of a tank top and athletic pants under fluorescent lights, she still seemed like a goddess to him. It wasn't until he remembered that the man was still in the room that he even spoke.

"Oh, Angelica, this is Mr. I'm-not-a-doctor. Not-a-doctor, this is Angelica." He introduced them, still not taking his eyes off of Angela.

Angela blinked her eyes as she stepped out of the harsher light of the corridor, at first meeting Zek's inviting gaze before almost instantly settling in on the pink elephant. She took in a long breath in an attempt to stifle the frustration rising up inside of her. So much for a chance to put Zek at ease about this whole thing... she thought to herself irritatedly.

Swallowing against the ire rising up in her throat like bile, Angela offered a reassuring and appreciative smile in Ezekiel's direction before she turned her scrutiny back onto Joe Cool.

"Am I interrupting?" She asked directly, hardly disguising the displeasure in her voice.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis

Jonas waited for the two of them to reunite themselves before addressing them. "Not at all, miss. I was actually just waiting for you to arrive before introducing myself more formally. My name is Jonas Weir, and I am a specialist with Combine. I have studied a number of psychiatric disciplines, as well as some forensic sciences. Due to the unique nature of your... 'problem', I have been assigned as an observer." While he spoke, he reached out to Angela, sensing her out. She seemed full of uncertainty, there was a ball of bundled emotions at her core that were complicated, and more gnarled than a rat's nest. On the surface were the basics, irritation, some disappointment, but underneath that, she was chaotic, on the edge.

He looked between the two of them for a moment before nodding to himself. 'Very good then, if you have any questions, I suggest you direct them to your immediate superiour. Otherwise, I will be monitoring every step of your rehabilitation, Mister Danner. For now, unless you are in need of anything, I will let the two of you... be alone."

"Oh please! The only things they do better than us are suck and die!"
-Turanga Leela, Futurama

So they had a Problem… Angela mentally shrugged. I suppose that’s one way of describing this mess. She told herself. Though, in her minds eye, the only problem she saw at the moment was the all too casual ‘Specialist’. She shouldn’t have been surprised, it only made sense to assign a spook work with Danner. After all, that crazy witch of a scientist back on the island had been very clear when she told Angela of the steep odds against her saving any of Ezekiel’s mind.

However, logical or not, the chill running down her spine told her she didn’t like this Jonas Weir. She’d do what she could later that night to find out everything she could about him, and she’d talk to Fletcher again in the morning. Satisfied for the time being she pulled herself back out of her mind and into reality, narrowing her eyes in Weir’s direction.

”Sure you don’t want to stick around and monitor that too, Spook?” Was what she wanted to say, but a brief bite of her tongue brought her emotions under control and instead she offered him a frosty smile.

“Don’t let us keep you, then.” By the time she finished the sentence she’d closed off her stance, non-verbally dismissing his presence as she started to glance around Ezekiel’s temporary quarters.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis

Zek smiled openly at Angela, obviously hanging off of her every word regardless of the fact that her terse statement hadn't even been made to him.

"Absolutely, don't let us keep you." He reaffirmed, his eyes soaking in every detail of Angela's actions.

Jonas merely nodded and moved toward the door. Before leaving the room completely, he turned and faced them again. "Whatever you may think, or feel, I am here to help, if I can." He was telling the truth, he was just leaving out the part of what he was to do if he could not help...

With that, he left the room, leaving the two to their privacy.

"Oh please! The only things they do better than us are suck and die!"
-Turanga Leela, Futurama

Zek watched as Jonas exited the room, then stood as the door slid shut behind him. Moving over to Angela, he reached out and took first one and then her other hand into his, a little smile on his face as he subtly pulled her a little bit closer to himself.

Of course, this was in gross violation of their unspoken code of conduct: the two of them were allowed to be flirtatious, but never openly affectionate. They could touch each other, but not without a reason for doing so (even if the reason was lame). Nothing could be direct, and through all their interactions, there always had to be that plausible deniablility about their mutual interest.

In this regard, Zek out of his normal character, and quite of course. Yet, he didn't seem to mind.

"I'm glad you came to see me."

The wind left Angela's lungs as Ezekiel boldly pulled her towards him. This wasn't the MindRealm... And it wasn't near-death Zek, either. This was just Rhaines and Danner... And Rhaines and Danner knew better than this. In her mind, the past started to flash past. All the little moments, the flirting and the sneaking into each others rooms while the other was sleeping, the little games they played with each other but never spoke about... All of these moments flashed behind her eyes like a strobe light as she tried to corral in the runaway train that was her composure.

But what should she do? They'd never spoken about the rules before, as far as anything was concerned those rules just didn't exist. Was it important enough to be the one to put her foot down and say something? But whats more, did she even want to? It didn't really bother her, did it? To be touched by Zek... This wasn't a mission. They weren't in imminent danger... What harm could come from it?

She didn't rightly know. But not knowing that wasn't enough to convince her to take her hands out of his grasp. So the slightly confused, slightly flustered Operative simply offered Zek a genuine smile, forcing the tenseness out of her body before she spoke.

"I can see that." she told him with a casual glance towards their joined hands.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis

It worried Zek that he had lost sight of her in the dense, black fog that covered the landscape, obfuscating every detail and blurring any sense of direction or landmarks. The ground squelched beneath his feet, an unfamiliar gray mire which didn't remind him of anything.

Despite this, however, he did not think it to be overly strange that he found himself trudging through this bleak place. The only thing that registered as being out of place was that Angelica was not there to guide him. So, he continued on. There was nothing to gauge direction or distance with, so for all Zek knew, he was walking in circles, but he continued on anyways.

As it turns out, walking in circles or not, he arrived at a destination.

It was a wall of bramble bushes, complete with dagger length thorns and blackberries the size of eggs. The dark fog obscured everything but the wall, giving no impression as to whether or not there was anything else in the world but the ground and this wall.

"Angelica!" Zek called out, panic starting to tinge his voice. He wanted her to appear so badly, yet she still seemed so far away.

Then suddenly... something. A sensation, a presence. From... on the other side of the bushes.

"Angelica?" Zek tried again, but didn't receive a response. Frowning, he considered the bushes.

There was no easy way through them. In fact, the only option seemed to be trying to plow through them. It would hurt, be Zek was confident he could do it. Especially if Angelica was on the other side of the wall, waiting for him. Without thinking further, he started crawling through the bushes.

It was hideously painful and slow, and by the time Zek emerged on the other end, he was cut and bleeding from a dozen wounds, but he had made it. Standing up, he discovered with disappointment, that Angelica was not there. And to make it worse, this side of the wall looked almost identical to the previous side.

"You are not supposed to be here." An unseen voice spoke to Zek, who was unsurprised at this.

He just rubbed his face, looking around in vain for the voice. "Who are you?"

"...Still... It has been so long since I've played with the dust of your world." The voice continued, not even responding to the question. "If you insist on being where you are not supposed to be, I shall simply fill the void you left behind."

The wall of thorns suddenly collapsed, and Zek sensed the presence move back in the direction he had come from. Zek frowned, getting the distinct impression that this was not a good development. Still, unsure of what else to do, he returned to his first plan of walking aimlessly.

"What?" It was a short time later when the Presence returned to Zek. "This bridge... It is weak still... Are you trying to lure me to a trap? Get out, interloper!"

Zek gasped loudly, jerking his head back in confusion. Angela was laying on the bed, a demure flush on her face and her pants half down, and he was propped up on top of her. He realized, with a start, that he had been in the process of trying to bed her, and she seemed more than happy with the effort.

His eyes searched her features, which were glowingly beautiful, but still he couldn't make sense of the situation. They had rules, didn't they? Wasn't this a taboo? Not that he really objected, but at the same time, it was so strange he had to understand.

Angela gasped for air, her eyes lazily blinking themselves open to find Ezekiel’s centimeters away. She had little recollection of how exactly she’d come to be mashed against him, her fists bunching up the fabric of his shirt near his ribcage and his arms firmly secured around her lithe form…

But there was little denying the fact that she very much was there, and the spots in her vision told her that her lips had been locked with his for quite some time. She tried very hard to clear her mind but found the task nearly impossible. Even as she opened her mouth to address the situation any protest she might have vocalized was stolen before it could manifest in the air as Zek pressed his lips to hers once more.

The next time she had a chance to breath the Operative found herself being tossed backwards. She had just enough time to feel the start of panic before the back of her head connected with a down pillow and barely enough time to blink her eyes open before Ezekiel was lowering himself down atop of her.

“Zek.” She finally managed to gasp in between ragged breaths. “What are yo-“ The question died out as his still sharpened canines closed around the base of her neck and instead all she could do was try to stifle the long moan that forced its way out of her pursed lips.

It was all just a blur, after that. Whatever will she had to resist, and whatever confusion or suspicion came from his sudden change in demeanor was nowhere near powerful enough to penetrate the lust-driven haze that suddenly filled the small room.

Zek gasped loudly, jerking his head back in confusion. Angela was laying on the bed, a demure flush on her face and her pants half down, and he was propped up on top of her. He realized, with a start, that he had been in the process of trying to bed her, and she seemed more than happy with the effort.

His eyes searched her features, which were glowingly beautiful, but still he couldn't make sense of the situation. They had rules, didn't they? Wasn't this a taboo? Not that he really objected, but at the same time, it was so strange he had to understand.

"Angela... What am I doing?"

’Angela’… How long had it been since he’d called her that? Suddenly she felt something click together sharply in her mind and the blood that was until that point superheated and flowing swiftly through her chilled immediately. There was more wrong here than their compromising posture…

Her features went from flushed excitement to nervous self-consciousness in a matter of seconds and she swiftly removed her hands from his shoulders and worked at re-clothing herself as she fought to think of what to say. What did he mean, What am I doing? As forward as he’d been he sure as hell ought to have know exactly what he was doing… If this was a game, it was a sick one.

“Zek… You… We-“ She clamped her mouth shut and blew out a frustrated breath at her own inability to articulate her thoughts. “This isn’t what you…” Her throat clamped down on her, preventing her from asking him if this wasn’t what he had wanted to happen… She didn’t understand what had just happened and her imagination was flying at full speed to fill in the blanks for her.

Zek rubbed at his face he could see confusion on her face, perhaps even strains of hurt that he had suddenly stopped. What could he say? He couldn't remember anything of... well, he couldn't remember anything for quite a while back.

"Please don't be mad... but... I don't remember... anything." As Zek spoke, looked over Angela again, hoping for something that would refresh his short term memory as to where he was or what events had led up to this moment. He saw a small bead of blood trickling down her neck, took note of the broken strap of her tank top, and the red scratch marks along her neck and shoulder. Had he done that? There was a surprisingly short list of other possible candidates. And for some reason, the sight of her in such a state seemed to tickle something predatory deep in the back of his mind. So far back, he wasn't even sure it was his mind any more...

As she lay there beneath him the past few minutes suddenly replayed behind her eyes. She watched on in her minds eye as Zek transformed into an agressor and slashed and bit her into submission atop the bed. The images were disjointed and distorted by the adrenaline flowing freely through her and they did nothing but drive her further into panic. Then she saw that preadatory flash behind his eyes and something inside of her snapped.

She let out a shriek and jabbed a strike into his shoulder joint, leveraging with her hips and legs at the same time to drive him off balance and off of her. Wasting no time she shot straight up off of the bed and started to back away frantically, trying to pull her pants back up as she went. She needed to get to the door but for some reason she couldn't tear her eyes away from his so she just kept backpedaling with her arms out behind her in a blind search for the doorknob..

Last edited by VagueDurin on Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis

The fact that Angela seemed close to panic only served to amp up Zek's own sense of panic. He moved towards her quickly, with no other purpose in mind other than to assure her that everything was alright. Which was a strange goal, given that he was pretty sure things were pretty much horribly wrong at this point.

"Angel, wait-" He reached out to grab her arm, but Angela reflexively twisted and delivered a palm strike to his face.

While, relative to such things, it was a fairly weak strike, it was still enough to produce a bit of blood from Zek's lip and knock him back to the ground in shock. A second later, Angela was out the door, leaving a stunned Zek on the floor of his room.

She had hit him. Not that, in and of itself, that was surprising, but the way she had hit him had been. She had reacted to him as if he had been a threat. She had reacted in self defense. From him.

Zek pulled himself to the small table and sat down heavily in one of the chairs, a deep malaise of the soul sinking over him. What had he become?

**
In the hallway of the low security medical holding wing, it took only seconds for a security officer further down the hallway to notice the woman stumbling out of one of the rooms, bleeding, sweaty and with torn clothes.

"Miss! Are you alright?" He sprinted down the hallway, hand hovering near his holstered pistol.

It had happened so fast. She hadn't had time to think about it. He was rushing her and she had to defend herself. She had to strike him down. There wasn't any other choice...

At least that's what Angela told herself as she slammed his door closed and staggered out into the hallway. Her thoughts were still useless as her mind was devoured by the panic inside of her. Then she heard the voice..

"Miss! Are you alright?"

Angela turned sharply to face the voice, her panicked eyes struggling to focus in on the security guard headed her way. Once they finally did she found herself instinctively turning away from him, trying to shield herself, one hand holding on to the ruined corner of her top as she backed up against the wall for the sense of security it gave her.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis

The guard took note of Angela's posture, demeanor and appearance, and did the only logical thing there was to do in that situation: assumed the worst.

He radioed for backup, drew his weapon and opened the door.

Zek looked up at the armed man walking in to the room, so withdrawn from the situation he hardly even reacted.

"Down on the ground, now!" The man yelled, fixing his aim on Zek, who slowly, almost stoically complied. His mind had just shut down, unable to really handle all of what was happening.

Within moments, there was a swarm of guards, pinning Zek down, wrenching his arms into handcuffs. Two other guards gently, but firmly, helped Angela up and began guiding her to the trauma center to make sure she didn't have more aggravated wounds than were visible. She was seated into a cushy waiting chair and covered with a light blanket while a nurse took her vitals.

She could feel the all-consuming panic starting to slowly ebb, her thoughts gradually becoming her own again with each passing moment. The area she found herself in felt safe, she understood that. This woman, the nurse, she was trying to help her. Angela understood that, too. Those guards back there, that had stormed into Zek’s room… well they’d been trying to help her too, right?

A shiver ran its way down her spine and she forcefully blinked her hazel eyes, trying desperately to take back control of herself and her situation. The nurse was speaking to her, but her voice sounded like it was miles away. Angela frowned slightly and strained to concentrate.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Angela's brow furrowed for a moment and then the frightening memories once again assaulted her and she began to withdraw. "He.. It… It attacked me. Wasn’t Zek.. Couldn’t have been… Zek wouldn’t, but it was, or he did…” She stammered. “It wasn’t right.” She finished, cradling her arms around her midsection.

Amidst the confusion and uncertainty the red-haired woman did manage one very clear thought; She was very swiftly starting to hate hospitals..

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis